


-18•C

by biarin



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:40:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28423362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biarin/pseuds/biarin
Summary: My assignment





	-18•C

-18ºC  
It was a sunny afternoon in late October, the autumn wind lightly shaking the trees.  
Somewhere in the midst of this prosperous city, was SR high school. The Halloween atmosphere there was overflowing, the voices of laughter, of students running and talking echoed from all directions. Though the lawn behind the school seems very out of place, quiet, and very peaceful, in a way.

“Sweetie, do you want to come to my house after school? I don’t have practice this afternoon.” Turning towards her best friend, Madeleine asked, emerald eyes glistening under the sun. 

Florence smiled happily. “That would be lovely! What should we do? I'm thinking of some very nice movies that we could watch.”

“Oh yeah, totally on to that. We could also prepare for tomorrow’s festival, I have no idea what make-up look I should go for.”, Madeleine replied with a light frown.

Florence waved her hand,“ I'll totally help you out with that, and my parents aren’t home. I could ask them to sleep over at your place?”

“ Of course! Mom and dad definitely won’t mind having you over for tonight. I’m sure dad would even bake some cookies for us, I know you love his cookies.” 

Madeleine and Florence continued lying there laughing with each other until the bell suddenly rang, startling the two girls and bringing them onto their feets, moving towards their classroom. 

The hallway had two rows of lockers, sprawled with people running around, students were gathering in groups, and preparing for their next lesson. While walking through the hallway, they bumped into a cute girl with soft brown eyes and wavy hair. She was Vivian, Madeleine recalled, the girl who usually studied with Florence and Felix in the library, Florence had mentioned her a few times. Though Madeleine did not know much about her, Vivian seems to be quite shy and doesn’t really talk much. Vivian said hello to both of them and Madeleine just gave her a small smile while she exchanged a few words with Florence before leaving. Then, a familiar voice made Madeleine look up.

“Hi lovies!! ”, Felix ran towards the two girls, he’s small figure nestled in the sea of people. Even so, there was no missing how he was a bubble of energy and cheerfulness. “ I was looking for you two, totally forgot what our next lesson is, is it Math? ”

“I believe it’s Physics.” - Florence replied, lightly lifting her eyebrows.

“Well that’s just great! I haven’t even laid my hands on the homework! It’s so hard!! ‘Physics is a very simple subject, you just have to understand some of the basics and apply the formula to finish the exercises’ , yeah, like everyone has a PhD in Physics like you do, Mr. Tony.” - Felix grumbled, repeating they’re teacher's words, making his friends laugh. Tony Adrien is Madeleine's uncle, and also the group’s homeroom teacher. He’s a very popular and beloved teacher, the students and staff all seem to enjoy he’s dry humour and intelligence.

“But you have to admit that Uncle Tony-”, Madeleine briefly stopped, “I mean, Mr. Tony.. Is, um, standing right behind you.” Felix’s whole body went rigid as he heard the sentence coming out of Madeleine’s lips. 

“ Hello everyone, I see you having a great time here. Are you speaking ill of me again, Felix? I’m deeply hurt!”, Mr. Tony laughed as he approached them and gently patted Felix's shoulders, “ I thought I was your favourite teacher?”

“Haha... of course you are my favourite teacher!”, Felix said awkwardly, trying to save himself from embarrassment. Sensing that her friend might need some help, Florence grabbed Felix’s and Madeleine’s wrist, dragged them into the class, all the while saying “I think it’s time for class Mr. Tony!”

Tony watched the students drag each other into the classroom and just shook his head, smiling softly.

The Physics lesson went on as usual, with Felix resting his hands on his checks, distracted eyes wandering around the class, while Florence and Madeleine listened attentively to the lecture, they both loved Physics. Mr. Tony’s interesting lecture made the time go by very quickly, the lesson had nearly ended before the students even noticed. Tony quickly finished the lecture, giving the student’s a few reminders for Festival tomorrow and ending the class right before the bell rang. “Enjoy yourselves tomorrow! But remember to stay safe!”

Madeleine was packing up her notes and waiting for her friends when she noticed Mr.Steve striding into class, holding a fully wrapped cheese burger in his hand, blonde hair still carefully styled as always. He was head of the Social Science department, a great person and also very close friends with Mr. Tony. Madeleine thinks they have known each other since they joined the same baseball club in high school, which, admittedly, has been a very long time. Mr. Steve handed Mr. Tony the cheese burger, then they started talking with each other. But Madeleine quickly drove her attention away from the teachers as Felix sighed dramatically, “Finally, the school day has ended!”

“Well, at least tommorow’s Halloween! So we get to play around all day! Don’t forget to wear the costume ” Madeleine exclaimed, she could not wait until tomorrow's festival to have fun with her dear friends.

"Definitely so," Florence laughed.

Tomorrow will be an amazing day.   
…..  
It was soon the afternoon of the festival. Branches and leaves whispered unknown melodies, everything seems to fade in the mist. The air was pleasantly cool, but a few harsh winds still sent people chills. A group of friends stood in a corner of the schoolyard, laughter clashing after they finished playing the games at the festival.

“Gosh, I’m really thirsty, we should get something to drink, preferably something warm ”, Madeleine said as she bites into the apple that she won from the previous game.

“I was thinking about the same thing. Vivian is working at a beverage counter right over there.”, Florence replied, pointing at a counter nearby.

“Sounds great! I should run over there and buy us something, you two can take your time.”, Felix waved he’s hands at his friends and left shortly after.

Felix ran towards Vivian’s counter, she was standing there in a crimson cape, a sturdy black jumpsuit with rustic leather shoes, freckles spotted on her rosy cheeks. She was definitely a cute Little Red Riding Hood.

Vivian held a glass of watermelon juice and gave it to another customer before turning to Felix: “Hi! I see your dressing up as..um Yoda today? That’s pretty cool! What can I do for you? "

"Yeah, I’m Yoda-Felix.Your outfit looks amazing too", Felix pointed to his long green ears, Vivian laughed, “I see! Thank you for the compliment!”. 

“Can I get 3 cups of jasmine tea please?”, Felix then replied.

“Sure! Please wait for a minute.” Vivian quickly made three cups of jasmine tea and handed it to Felix, along with a poster. Felix took the drink, picking up the poster and exclaimed, “Wow! The Halloween nightmare's house sounds legit! Why haven't I heard of it before?”

“Hm… I think the seniors were given permission to build a haunted house in the old school building. They probably want to make use of the building one last time before it’s destroyed. It’s kind of a last minute decision from the school, so not a lot of people know about it. ” Vivian eyes looking hopefully at Felix,“ I was planning to go there, do you want to come? My shift’s about to end anyways. Ask Florence and Madeleine too.”

Felix scanned through the poster, and nodded without any hesitance: “Sure, that sounds like a great idea, those two will be here in any minute.”

“Cool! I’ll be finished real soon.”, Vivian smiled widely at Felix, but when he turned away, her smile immediately dropped. 

Felix, or rather a green-faced Yoda, approach Madeleine and Florence . He stuck the poster in the hands of the two girls, “A haunted house is being held in the old school area! I've never been there before, you guys wanna go there? "

"Looks good," Florence was amused, though Madeleine seemed a little puzzled. "That place hasn't been in operation for a long time, how did they even mana..."

“Don't worry too much, maybe because it’s a special day.” Florence interrupted her and winked, “ Don't be afraid Mady, I will protect you. "

Madeleine stared at Florence for a moment, then she sighed, resigning to her friends. The trio then finished their drinks at Vivian’s counter before heading to the haunted house with her. The road to the old school building has now become wild and strangely untouched. As they walked towards their destination, Madeleine sensed her doubt grew even bigger, more questions flooded her mind. Why is no one at this “Haunted House”? Why are there no sounds coming out of the place? Florence held her hands so very tightly, as if afraid Madeleine would go missing if she let go. Luckily with the presence of her friends here, Madeleine felt a lot more secure. What could possibly go wrong? 

“Gosh, this place is scary! Haven’t even gotten in there and I’ve already got chills. ”Felix exclaimed, hiding behind Vivian as if scared, but a scared green-faced teenage boy looked really funny.

Vivian laughed and patted Felix's head: “It's only going to get better,” she said, then stepping forward to lead the way.

The dark old school building gradually appeared in the sunset, as if covered with a coat of red, the night mist fell on the spindly branches that looked like giant's spooky arms.  
Madeleine was watching the scene here when she came to a halt as Vivian suddenly fell to the ground. The whole group started panicking, Florence and Felix quickly rushed to check Vivian's condition and Madeleine immediately pulled out her phone to call her teacher. She watched in horror as Florence and Felix also fainted. Shaking hands tried to hold the phone, but her consciousness gradually faded before the call arrived.

A figure stood up, picked up Madeleine's phone, and turned it off.  
…..  
“Is there something wrong?” Steve walked over and scanned through Tony's phone screen, where Madeleine's missed call was displayed. Tony's eyebrows furrowed slightly,"It’s nothing. I just find it weird that Mady called me, she usually texts if-” But before he could finish his sentence, he received a message, "I just pressed the wrong button Tony, everythings fine. ". 

“Well, it really is nothing, we should probably head down to the festival to watch out for the kids though", Tony puts the phone into his pocket.  
…..

Madeleine slowly opened her eyes, feeling blinded by the white lights, the chilling cold coursed through her whole body. A voice was constantly calling out her name, while she felt her head being rested on something quite soft. It was Felix and Madeleine.

The two bursted into tears when they saw Madeleine regain consciousness, as if seeing someone who had just returned from the hands of death.

"Oh, Madeleine!", cried Florence, her face stained with tears and her voice hoarse, "We were so worried about you! How do you feel now? " 

“What? Wher..Where are we?”, Madeleine vaguely replied, sitting up from Florence’s lap.

"I haven’t a single clue. All of a sudden we fainted like that, and we were locked up in this freezing place. It looks like a cold storage but I’m not sure, we can't see Vivian anywhere too.”, Florence trembled,“We’ve been screaming our lungs out for a while but no one has heard us..”

“Vivian’s probably the person behind all of this! I vaguely remember her waking up before I lost consciousness!”, Felix replied shakily, bringing his hands up to wrap around his knees.

"How can you be so sure about that? Perhaps she was also a victim and is missing right now!" Florence protested.

Madeleine watched the two arguing for a while without saying anything, partly because her brain felt like it was just scrambled around. Discrete pieces of her memories slowly assembled inside her mind. Felix was probably right, there was little doubt that he wasn't. Vivian tricked the whole group to come here and locked them in this shitty place, but for what reason? Is there any chance for them to survive? She was scared, very scared. But she had to think of a way to get them out. She had to.

“Stop arguing you guys! We have more important things to care about. If we continue to stay in this kind of temperature, the whole group will freeze to death in a few hours. When that happens, there would be no hope of finding Vivian, either if she’s a victim or not.” Madeleine dissuaded her two friends, stopping for a moment before coming to a realization, “ Wait, I have an idea.”

She hurriedly reached down to the side of her hips, where there was supposed to be a gun pocket - part of her Han Solo outfit - and sighed in relief to find the toy gun still there. Madeleine picked up the gun and took out both batteries. “Felix, I remember you have some gums in your pocket? "

Felix froze for a moment, clearly very confused but he still fumbled through his pocket to pull out a bar of gum wrapped in foil. "What are you doing, Mady?" Florence frowned.

"Creating a fire," Madeleine replied succinctly, while her slightly shaky hands tore the candy wrap into an hourglass shape. She then attached the two ends of the foil to the two ends of the battery. The paper made a soft squeal and then a small flame began to appear in the center. She looked at Florence's white dress, which was made out of linen and coated with a thin layer of chiffon, "Can you tear me a piece of clothing from your outer skirt?".

Florence tore off a large piece of the fabric without hesitation, and handed it to Madeleine, even though she herself doesn’t understand what Madeleine was doing. Madeleine gently said thank you and lit the small flame on the cloth, causing a fire to start. Felix and Florence stared at the fire for a long time, not knowing how to react, they seemed to have forgotten the argument that had just happened.

“Wow! Madeleine! That’s so cool! Where did you learn to do that?”, Felix exclaimed

“ Uncle Tony taught me a few hacks when I was younger, but that’s besides the point. Come closer and keep yourself warm.” Madeleine waved at her friends. The friends just stood there quietly for a few moments, seemingly trying to calm themselves down before Florence murmured, “ I think now is just the time ro figure out what we should do next.” 

Madeleine nodded, “I think so too. Let’s start- What’s that black thing on the top shelf?”. She quickly stood up and went to the empty shelf to the right of the room, where she found a walkie - talkie, “Guys! Look what I found!”, before bringing it back to her friends.

“ I’m pretty sure that's a walkie-talkie, but why would something like that be in here?”, Felix stared at the device. Madeleine held it in her hands,“ It must be intentional, we should turn it on first, talking to the person on the other end might be the only way we could get out of here.”

They exchanged a few glances together before Florence started,“Yeah, let’s open it.” As if the person on the other side of the walkie-talkie had been waiting for them, a hysterical laughter came out when they just opened the device. “Ha ha, are you guys finally awake?”, A timid voice came from the other end of the radio, but all three were sure it was Vivian.

“Vivian??! You really were the person behind all this??”, Felix yelled angrily. He was answered with a mild chuckle,“Well, Felix, who else could have possibly done this? Of course it was me.” Vivian's voice was abnormally clear, making her words sound even crazier. 

“But why are you doing this? What did we do to you? ” Madeleine frowned at the device in her hands, trying to contain her anger.

“You didn't do anything wrong, Madeleine, it's just, you people are so happy, so full of life. While I’m struggling to keep up with anything. It upsets me. Why can't I have your life? Why can’t I fit in like everyone else? I don't understand. So I hate you, I hate everyone! You brats don't deserve a better life than me! Now that I want to die, you don't get to live!”, Vivian said bitterly.

“Vivian! You -”, Florence tried to interrupt her, but Vivian seems to have ignored her. “I’m sitting on the terrace of the building that you’re in, when you all die, I'd also jump down.”

“VIVIAN! Don’t do this!”, Florence pleaded again, her voice filled with emotions. The other side of the radio went silent for a few seconds before it was turned off. No replies. “Come on!! Don’t do this to us!”, Madeleine slapped hard at the walkie-talkie, her eyes glassy. Felix stood up and punched at the wall, shouting,“She’s crazy!!”, but it didn’t take him long to break down crying. They all started to wept loudly, mournful sobs filled the whole room. They really were going to die in here. 

"Are you sure this is the place?", a voice of a man echoed through the walls, though very soft, but they heard it. 

"I just checked the cameras, the kids must be in here somewhere ...", another man replied.

The three friends glanced at each other, a ray of hope appearing from their swollen eyes. They rushed towards the door, banging loudly, “Is anyone there!!! Please help us! Hello!". The sound of footsteps came closer and closer.

“They’re inside!”, a panicked voice came through again, this time a lot clearer, it was Tony. 

“We have to get them out first. You should move away, I’m going to break the lock”, Steve replied, picking up a long iron bar from the pile of discarded items nearby and starting to smash the lock with brutal force. He focused his hits on the weakest spot on the lock - the lock hardware, and after a few strikes, it fell off. Steve hurriedly opened the door, followed by Tony. The moment that door was opened, the three kids rushed through the doors, collapsing into Tony and Steve. 

“ Oh god, are you ok sweetheart?”, Tony said worriedly, hastily taking off his coat to cover the three children, so did Steve. Then, he raised his hands and tried to hold his students in his arms, “I’m so sorry for not picking up the phone! How could this happen?!”

"Vivian, it's Vivian who did this," Madeleine faintly grabbed Tony’s shirt, interrupting him. "She's on the top floor of this building, she said she wanted to die ... with us."

As Madeleine finished her sentence, Steve immediately rushed towards the terrace. Tony accompanied the students out of the building, while calling the ambulance and police on their way out. When they exited the building, all 4 pairs of eyes were focused on the small figure lounging on the rooftop. It was Vivian.

Steve had just reached the terrace, where he saw Vivian standing on the balcony, her back facing the endless space behind her, looking so very vulnerable, she could fall at any moment! Without thinking, he ran towards her, reaching his hands out to catch her arms. He could faintly hear Florence screaming, “VIVIAN! Don’t do this!” at the back of his head. But it was too late. Vivian has fallen. 

THUMP!

The sicking sound of a smashed body left everyone speechless. Steve fell to his knees. Tony, Felix and Madeleine were so shell-shocked, they just stood there, unable to move. Florence buried her face into the crook of Madeleine’s neck and started hysterically crying, even though her lips were painted with a wicked smile.


End file.
